We hope you had a restful and invigorating February break. Our tuition assistance application deadline is approaching. There are Tuition Assistance Packets available in the front office. Contracts and deposits plus tuition assistance applications are due to the enrollment director no later than March 3. Tax documents (2013) for families applying for tuition assistance are due to TADS March 3.

I am in the office Monday through Thursday from 8:00-3:30 if you have any questions.-Tamara Cody

Business ManagerAshwood Waldorf School207-236-8021 ext. 109

Early Childhood News

Farewell

Dear Ashwood Community,

In Waldorf schools, teachers state their intentions each February as to whether or not they will be returning the following year. I have decided that this year will be my last at Ashwood. As I turned 60 a few weeks ago, I reflected that it was time for me to move on. My goal is to continue working as a kindergarten teacher, and hope to find a school where I can mentor young, aspiring teachers. I will feel the loss of so many of you here in this community. Thank you to everyone who welcomed and supported me so deeply during my time here. And, of course, I will carry these lovely children forever in my heart.

With fondness,Ms. Beth

Forest Kindergarten

Beginning next fall, we'll be launching an exciting new early-childhood program. On Wednesdays, four- to six- year- old- students already enrolled in either the five- or three-day program will have the opportunity to participate in our forest kindergarten program, should parents choose this option. The Forest Kindergarten movement is growing in the U.S. after more than 40 years' success in Europe and Scandinavia.

Our Forest Kindergarten program will offer a full Waldorf kindergarten experience, outdoors.

Fall, winter, and spring, in all weathers, children will enjoy seasonal activities, circle time, gardening, forest walks, and creative free play. They will delight in stories around the fire where they prepare their snack and warm their tea.

We are blessed to have Marianne Bockli rejoin our Early Childhood faculty to lead this program. For those of you who don't know Marianne, she taught at Ashwood for fifteen years before her recent five-year journey that has included multiple trips to China to mentor Waldorf early childhood teachers.

Marianne writes:

During the past few years, I have traveled to various places in China in order to mentor new Waldorf kindergarten initiatives. What an experience! Most schools are in apartment buildings, with small courtyards, in huge cities. Once a week the classes go to a public park for their "hiking and nature" day. How fortunate we are at Ashwood to have pristine surroundings we can explore in daily! It is with much anticipation that I will discover anew the woods and fields behind Rosewood in the pioneering Forest Kindergarten program beginning next fall! All through my many years of teaching early childhood classes at AWS, I have enjoyed taking my classes to the woods to play and observe the seasonal changes. Once, a long time ago, my class found a sleeping porcupine in an old hollowed tree, henceforth named "the porcupine tree" for many generations of Ashwood students. We picked the wild asparagus for our soup, drilled holes to tap the old maple, climbed rocks on the far side of the stream, dug for crystals, gathered berries for snack and leaves or flowers for teas, felled rotten trees and sawed branches for firewood. Those are among the many activities I look forward to doing with the children in our weekly "woods" day. I am sure we will find many new things to add, as we will have time to really get to know nature in all its seasons and manifestations through the year. I am grateful for the opportunity, and look forward to be settling back in Maine.

Parents will be able to choose whether or not to enroll their children in the Wednesday Forest Kindergarten program. There will be no additional tuition fees for enrolling in this program. Participants will enjoy the traditional course of activities with their regular teacher and classmates on the other days of the week. Children who participate in the forest program will rejoin the "indoor" EC class at noon if they are staying for lunch. We will accept up to eight students for this program, on a first-come, first-served basis, with preference given to five-day students. It is our hope that this program will grow into a full second classroom by 2016.

-Jody Spanglet

School Director

"Experiencing nature in ongoing, unregulated, direct ways offers children irreplaceable opportunities for exploring and discovering, for creating and developing their personalities and identities, for probing and testing the margins of their world. Direct, often spontaneous contact with nature appears to constitute an irreplaceable core for healthy childhood growth and development."

-Dr. Stephen R. Kellert, Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology and Senior Research Scholar at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Auction

GLOW Auction Update: Don't Let Your Items Get Away!We are off to a great start! The bidding is active, the browsing is vigorous. Your private yoga session, math tutor, orthodontic care, and handmade quilt are only a click away. Browse and bid here. Planning Ahead:1. Raffle Tickets. By now, every family should have received a packet with complete instructions. Thank you so much for helping our school by selling these tickets. Please return all tickets and donations to Julia Dodge or the office by March 12. FMI: Julia Dodge, 712-5231, 2. GLOW Event. Buy your tickets in the office or at HAVII, Good Tern, Rising Tide, or Belfast Co-Op. 3. Food, Set Up, and Break Down. Please consider making a fruit or cheese platter and/or joining us for a day of cooking in preparation for the live event. Not a cook? No worries. Sign up to help set up or break down the evening. FMI: Tina Lipmanowicz, 230-4544 March 14 at 10 p.m.

GLOW Auction closes. Over 220 items from which to choose. Bid often! Send the link to family and friends. Share the posts on Facebook. This is how you can truly be a part of our auction team.

The year has a life of its own, and the human soul can become part of it.

-Rudolf Steiner

The weekly verses in Rudolf Steiner's Calendar of the

Soul create a special dynamic for one's meditative life during the course of the year. Herbert Hagens will focus on the Soul Calendar contemplations for the seven weeks leading up to Easter (Lent). The talk on Friday evening will sketch out some of the key features along this meditative pathway. The seminar on Saturday will explore various Calendar verses in greater depth and trace their relationship to the seasons and major festivals. We will also discuss practical guidelines for working with the verses through the course of the year.

Herbert Hagens has been an active member of the Anthroposophical Society for more than 40 years, and has taught in the Foundation Studies Program at the Waldorf School of Princeton. In addition to lecturing and Society activities, Herbert conducts an annual course on Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Dramas in the Anthroposophical Studies in English Program at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. He lives with his wife, Adelaide, in Princeton, New Jersey, where he works as business manager at Hagens Recording Studio, Inc.

Registration begins in March.-Sponsored by Studies in Anthroposophy

Think Inside the Box?

Last March, Rob Kaczor entered his class in the Camden Snow Bowl's 1st Annual Cardboard Box Race. The children and their teacher constructed a marvelous canoe out of cardboard and raced to a stunning, award-winning finish ("Best School Group"). Their prize was a full day's use of the Snow Bowl, which we enjoyed in October, inviting the entire school to join us for fun, food, and games. This year, the Snow Bowl is holding a similar race on March 8. Perhaps Ashwood can go two for two! -Beverly Scott

Please note: This offer it is not exclusively for people associated with our school. Feel free to invite your friends to sign up by Wednesday afternoon to join us on Thursday afternoons for fun on the slopes.

Beverly Scott (mom of Zhenya, grade 3-4)

We publish community-service announcements from and for Ashwood community members at no charge (50-words max.). Send to: Judith Soleil.

Support Our Sponsors

Be a Sponsor

Display or text ads appear here, in the right column of the Leaflet, and link to your website. The cost is $5/edition for a square ad (170 x 170 pixels) and $10/edition for a long ad (170 x 340 pixels). Discounts are available for long-term ads. The Leaflet appears every other week except in July. For more information, email Judith Soleil.

This film excerpt (with English subtitles) shows a well-established forest kindergarten in the Arctic region of Norway. The narrator explains why these programs are expanding rapidly. Well worth a look!

Submissions

Do you have a story to tell about Ashwood? A review of a book or an event? A reflection on Waldorf education? Photos you've taken? A question about the Leaflet?Send us an email! We would love to hear from you. The next Leaflet will be published on Wednesday, January 15. Deadline for submissions is Monday, January 12 at 9 a.m.

Make a Donation

Support Waldorf education in midcoast Maine. Make a tax-deductible donation today by clicking the button below.

Thank you!

Shop. Eat. Repeat.Participating in Ashwood Waldorf School's Hannaford grocery card fundraiser couldn't be easier. Just stop by the office to purchase a card, sold in denominations of $50 and $100. Then, the next time you're at Hannaford, use it to pay for your groceries. The gift card works just like cash.

Ashwood earns 5% on the weekly expenditures of everyone who participates!

Valid All Over New England!

Our grocery cards are valid at all Hannaford stores. Take a card with you when you travel. Let your friends and relatives know that they can make a contribution to Ashwood simply by doing their grocery shopping. Or, tuck a grocery card into a holiday, birthday, or special thank-you card.

Stop by the school office to purchase one today!

Annual Appeal

Closing In

We are doing so well and are so close. Our goal of $40,000 is only $3,448 away! It is with enormous appreciation that we thank all of the families, businesses, and foundations that have gotten us this far. Our goal is 100% participation from all families within our school. Our children all have the gift of attending Ashwood, and coming together to support our school is a gift we can give each other. If one family gave $2,000, we'd be a breath away. If the remaining 22 families pledged $13 per month for a year, we'd be there.

Perhaps you wonder why we do an annual appeal at all? What is its purpose? The simple truth is that an annual appeal, for nearly every nonprofit, covers the difference between operating expenses and income. What does it pay for? Mostly, it pays for our highly trained and valued faculty. It also pays for heat, art supplies, sports equipment, plowing, and the hundreds of other details that keep a school running well. Please consider joining your fellow parents; Ashwood is worthy of your kindness.